How to Recover Deleted Minecraft Worlds on Different Devices

Your Minecraft worlds aren’t stored online by default – they live on your device. That means a world can disappear for many reasons: an accidental deletion, a bad move during a transfer, a drive problem, or damage caused by software issues. When this happens, the world simply stops showing up in your list, and it can feel like it’s gone for good.

Thankfully, your Minecraft world is just data. Data can be recovered through various means, even when it may seem like it’s lost forever. Read on to find out what steps you need to take if your Minecraft world disappeared.

How Does Minecraft Store the Worlds

The location of your Minecraft worlds on your drive will vary based on the device you’re using. For example, Windows typically keeps Minecraft world folders locally, whereas PlayStation users (with a PlayStation Plus subscription) may have a version of their world stored in the cloud.

Here’s how Minecraft worlds are stored on each device by default for most users:

Not only will your device dictate where your Minecraft world is stored, but also how it is recovered. Next, let’s look at how to recover a Minecraft world.

How to Recover Deleted Minecraft Worlds on Windows

There are many ways your Minecraft world could be deleted, like your disk crashing as you’re trying to import old Minecraft worlds. Regardless, you have a few options when trying to restore a Minecraft world on Windows. However, as with the recovery on any device, you should act with haste so as to ensure your Minecraft world isn’t overwritten.

Method 1: Recover with Data Recovery Software

When a Minecraft world is removed from inside the game, it doesn’t go through the Recycle Bin. The folder is deleted right away, and Windows marks that space on the drive as available for new data. If you’re one of the few people who manage their saves directly through the file system, you can double-check the Recycle Bin just in case — but for most players, the world is wiped instantly.

Because of that, timing matters. The sooner you try to bring the deleted files back, the better your chances are, since any new activity on the drive can overwrite the space where the world once existed. A data recovery tool is your best option here. Disk Drill is a strong choice thanks to its ability to examine both recently removed items and deeper layers of the NTFS system drive used by Windows, giving you the best shot at restoring the essential world files before they’re lost for good.

1. Download and install Disk Drill. Install it on a non-system drive or flash drive to avoid overwriting data.
2. Select the system drive and click Search for lost data.
3. When the scan is done, click Review found items.
4. Find the files and mark them for recovery. To make it easier, you can use the search box to filter through the results quickly (try to search the .minecraft folder with all game data). When ready, click Recover.
5. Choose where you want to restore the files. Again, don’t recover the files to the same drive they’re being recovered from. Instead, restore them to another storage device and then manually move them over. Click Next.

Once the folder with your world is recovered, place it back into your Minecraft saves directory (C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\saves). Make sure the folder structure matches the format of your other worlds. After that, restart the game and the world should appear in your list again.

Method 2: Restore to a Previous Version

In some situations, recovering a deleted world through Windows’ own backup system can work even better than data recovery software. The catch is that not everyone has File History turned on. This feature creates routine copies of the user’s library, including the %AppData% folder where your Minecraft saves are stored. If File History was active before the world was removed, you may be able to bring back an earlier version of the entire world folder. If that applies to you, it’s worth checking the available snapshots to see whether one contains the missing save.

1. Open File Explorer and go to your Minecraft saves folder: C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\saves
2. Right-click the saves folder and choose Properties.
3. Go to the Previous Versions tab. Windows will list any available backups created by File History.
4. Select the version you want to bring back and click Restore.

If you’re unsure which snapshot contains the world you’re looking for, use the Open in File History option from the Previous Versions tab. This lets you browse the contents of the saves folder exactly as it looked at the time of each backup. It’s an easy way to check whether the world is present — especially if you don’t have many saves and can compare the list quickly. And even if you’re not certain, you can always restore the entire folder and pick the right world directly in the game afterward.

How to Recover Minecraft Worlds on PlayStation

To get deleted Minecraft worlds back on PS4, you will need to restore a working version of the world from a cloud backup. While local recovery is a possibility, it is very difficult compared to recovery on Windows due to PlayStation using its own proprietary file system, PlayStation File System (PFS). Because you will need to restore from the cloud, this solution will only work for those who had a PlayStation Plus membership prior to the world becoming lost.

This is how to recover deleted Minecraft worlds on PS4:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select Application Data Management.
3. Select Saved Data in Online Storage.
4. Select Download to System Storage.
5. Select Minecraft then select Yes to confirm you’re ok with overwriting the existing file with the one stored in the cloud.

How to Recover Minecraft Worlds on Android/iPhone

Minecraft saves on Android and iOS can be moved between devices. As such, it’s possible for saves to become lost or deleted during the transfer. Thankfully, there are some options for recovering lost or deleted Minecraft worlds from your Android or iOS device.

Method 1: Using Disk Drill for Mac

Disk Drill can scan several types of storage used by mobile versions of Minecraft: SD cards from Android devices, rooted Android phones, and iPhones. All of them can contain the game’s save files, and once a world is removed, the data may still be recoverable as long as it hasn’t been overwritten. In the scan results, your task is to locate folders that match the Minecraft save path listed earlier in the article.

We’ll use an iOS device as the example here. Scanning an Android phone or an SD card follows the same routine you saw when we covered recovery from the system drive at the start of the guide.

1. Download and install Disk Drill for Mac.
2. Connect the iPhone to your Mac.
3. Open the iPhones & iPads section, select your device. Click Search for lost data.
4. Review the found items when the scan is done.
5. Mark the Minecraft saves for recovery and click Recover.
6. Choose where you want to restore the saves.

Method 2: Using Online Backups

If your Minecraft save disappeared and you have a working backup, you can restore the Minecraft world from your backup. Your specific backup may be different based on your Android device and version, but the process for iOS is fairly standard and boils down to restoring your device through iCloud. We’ve covered variations of both below:

Android

These instructions involve restoring a backup from Samsung Cloud.

1. Open Settings on your Android device.
2. Go to Accounts and backup (or a similarly named section).
3. Select Restore data.
4. Choose the device associated with the backup you want to use.
5. In the list of apps, make sure Minecraft is selected so its data is included in the restore.
6. Tap Restore and wait for the process to complete.
7. Once the device finishes applying the backup, open Minecraft and check whether the world has returned.

iOS

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap your Apple ID at the top, then choose iCloud.
3. Go to iCloud Backup and check the date of the last backup.
4. Once you’ve confirmed that the backup predates the world deletion, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone.
5. Tap Erase All Content and Settings. The phone will restart and guide you through setup.
6. When asked how you want to set up the device, choose Restore from iCloud Backup.
7. Sign in with your Apple ID and select the backup you reviewed earlier.
8. Wait for the restore to finish. After the phone completes setup, open Minecraft and look for the returned world.

If you’ve set Minecraft to store its worlds in the Files app instead of the app’s internal data, restoring an iCloud device backup won’t bring those saves back. In that setup, the only reliable options are recovering the deleted files with Disk Drill or restoring from any manual copies you may have created earlier.

Conclusion

A removed or missing Minecraft world can often be restored using the methods available on each platform. After you’ve recovered your save, it’s useful to set up a basic backup routine so future issues are easier to resolve.

On Windows and macOS, keep periodic copies of your world folders outside the game’s directory. Android and iOS users can export worlds manually to external storage, the Files app, or a cloud service, for example, like this Reddit user. Creating a simple ZIP copy from time to time is enough to maintain a reliable fallback.

If you have any questions or want to share your experience, you can leave a comment below the article.

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